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Cano homers on Mother's Day using pink bat

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Cano's two-run homer 0:48

5/12/13: Robinson Cano jacks a two-run shot to deep right, hitting his 10th home run of the season with a pink bat on Mother's Day

By Bryan Hoch
/
MLB.com |

KANSAS CITY -- Robinson Cano didn't have much luck swinging for the fences at Kauffman Stadium during last year's All-Star Game Home Run Derby festivities. Maybe he would have fared better with a pink bat.

Cano cleared the right-field wall with a two-run homer off the Royals' Ervin Santana in the Yankees' 4-2 win on Sunday, doing so with a pink Louisville Slugger bat that simultaneously celebrated Mother's Day while helping to raise awareness for breast cancer.

"You know what, when you've got that pink bat on Mother's Day, it's one of the biggest days in baseball," Cano said. "All you want is to go up there and just be able to use that bat the whole game, because if you go 0-for-2, you want to change and go back to the regular bat."

Many more players around the league wore batting gloves, wristbands and other equipment brandished in pink. For example, Yankees right-hander David Robertson took the mound for the eighth inning wearing a pair of bright pink spikes that will be auctioned for charity.

"All of us have mothers, so it's nice to represent them," Yankees catcher Chris Stewart said. "It's also nice to bring awareness to breast cancer. We represent our moms, but at the same time, we're bringing awareness to breast cancer and trying to raise some money for that. Anytime we can do a double task out there just by wearing pink, it's pretty cool."

Vernon Wells also homered in New York's victory, and though he stuck with his usual bat for the event, Wells gave the gray Yankees uniform a splash of bright pink with a compression sleeve over his arm.

"It's a great day. This and Father's Day are two fun days for all of us," Wells said. "It's just another way of saying thank you for our parents. Pink obviously looks a little odd on a bunch of grown men, but we embrace it and I think we love to show support, not only for our moms, but for breast cancer awareness."

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.